A gust from Wind Cave

Wind Cave boxwork

Entering Wind Cave National Park, the subterranean does not immediately come to mind, as the park presents too much wildlife to dodge. 

Bison roam its rolling prairie hills, the largest swatch of natural mixed-grass prairie in the U.S. The Wind Cave bison are free-roaming and genetically pure, the only U.S. national park outside Yellowstone with such a herd. Chatty but unconcerned prairie dogs sit on the road until prompted by approaching cars. The swarm the prairie atop a ridge, their tunnels sporting a hundred entrances. 

Pronghorns on the hill

Pronghorn antelope lounge and graze around the Elk Mountain Campground turnoff. While seldom seen, Wind Cave’s prairie is a reintroduction site for the black-footed ferret, North America’s rarest mammal. Elk reside here, and nearby by Pringle (population 109) calls itself the Elk Capital of South Dakota. Mountain lion, bobcat and coyote round out the ecosystem. 

The wildlife, rare prairie ecosystem, and the famous underworld led to Wind Cave becoming a national park. Jewel Cave National Monument, only thirty minutes away, has a handful of hiking trails but is primarily about the cave. 

Wind Cave shares a border with Custer State Park, and the historic Beaver Creek Bridge connects the two along Route 87. The bridge is a park landmark, noted for how its arched construction appears to rise directly from the canyon’s rock walls. I wanted a picture but found that the best vantage point lies south of the bridge as we were headed north to Custer. Next time, I’ll know. 

A series of Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps buildings house the Wind Cave visitor center, museum, administration buildings, and staff housing. 

A more innocuous building holds the elevators that take tours down into the cave. The elevators have been updated many times since the Depression, but the building otherwise looks no different than when constructed in the 1930s. Only by guided tour can visitors experience the cave itself. 

The elevators were closed for several years and led me to delay any Wind Cave trip (Jewel Cave's elevators were also out, so it was a rough time for caves in the Black Hills). We showed up at noon and acquired two spots on a 3:30 tour. The park limits tours to 40 people, a number that seems high given the small rooms on the tour. 

Not only is Wind Cave one of the world’s longest caves (seventh at last measure), but also ranks as the densest. The entire explored cave sits within a square mile under the visitor center and other facilities in the 27,000-acre park. The Garden of Eden tour stops at the mid level of the cave, and other tours start much deeper.

Some of the prairie looked burnt. The park service conducted a prescribed burn. The recent snowstorms and mild weather had already pushed green among the charred areas. Aside from the roads, much of the park looks like it would have before development, rolling hills broken by canyons and draws. 

After a brief history as a private tourist attraction, Wind Cave came to the federal government's attention. Deadwood sheriff Seth Bullock served as supervisor when the Homestead claims on the Wind Cave land were withdrawn and fell back under federal control. By 1902, Bullock’s close friend Theodore Roosevelt had become president and signed the Wind Cave National Park in law. 

Visitors at Mammoth Cave go through the natural entrance for many tours, but not at Wind Cave. An elevator buzzes visitors to 100 feet below the surface. 

Here the cave begins to show off immediately. Wind Cave is best known for its boxwork, rare rock formations that resemble bird nests and spiderwebs but are made of rock with the limestone worn away. Wind Cave accounts for 95 percent of the known boxwork on Earth. 

 Wind Cave owes its unique formations to 350 million years of geology. The Black Hills once sat under a shallow sea 350 million years. The cave contains brachiopod fossils from this time. As the sea receded, freshwater moved in the region. Wind Cave is considered one of the world’s oldest caves, with the oldest discovered passages around 300 million years old, although geologists believe cave formation accelerated between 40 and 60 million years ago. 

Limestone erosion led to the cave’s most spectacular features. What Wind Cave lacks in stalactites and stalagmites it makes up in boxwork. Boxwork and frostwork are made of stone but highly delicate. Just a touch from human hands can ruin them. Thin layers of popcorn cover other surfaces. Popcorn continues to develop in places where water seeps into the cave. 

During the tour, I found myself wishing I could see the cave's natural entrance. The ranger made no mention of it until late in the tour, when she told us we could visit the natural entrance on the far side of the visitor center. 

A barometric cave, Wind Cave will push air out when the outside air pressure is lower. This afternoon, the outside air pressure must have been much lower. Wind rushed from the entrance. The escaping air was audible and cold, leaving the cave at a cool 53 degrees. If you stuck you head in, the currents were strong enough to push back your hair or push a hat off a head. 

There was no fear of anyone entering the tiny 10" by 14" oval. Behind the natural entrance lies the first human-sized entrance into Wind Cave, which early prospectors thankfully cut rather than widening the natural entrance. They cut away the rock and don’t leave a lot of room to maneuver. But they started in motion the discovery of Wind Cave’s wonders, often working by candlelight and using balls of twine to keep from getting lost in its intricate passages. 

I’m glad they didn’t ruin the natural entrance, because it was known to Native American tribes, who did not make other entrances into the cave. For the Lakota, the natural entrance is part of their origin story, the location where they believe their people first emerged from the underworld. The cave is where “Wakan Tanka, the Great Mystery, sent the buffalo out into their hunting grounds,” according to Lakota oral tradition. Native prayer scarves were scattered on the rock around the entrance. 

 Standing in the wind pushed out of Wind Cave feels spiritual, as the same cold has blown in the faces of countless others long before the first eyes saw what treasures hid under the surface.